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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Criminal conduct

The good news for Volkswagen is that it delivered almost 7.5
million vehicles to customers during the first three quarters of 2015.

The
bad news is that 8.5 million of VW’s cars will most likely be subject
to a mandatory recall — and that’s just in Europe.

The fallout from the Volkswagen emissions
scandal continues to reverberate, four weeks after revelations about the
installation of “defeat device” software in diesel-powered cars
slammed the newswires.

Now, the world’s largest automaker is facing a global
public relations crisis. This includes its home base: 2.8 million of the
recalled vehicles were sold in Germany.

With about 2.4 million of those cars still within
Germany’s borders, the company is spinning its wheels to deliver a plan to
retrofit the cars.

German authorities demanded a mandatory recall,
rejecting any suggestion that car owners take their vehicles in for inspection
at their own discretion.

Such a directive, instead of a voluntary recall, adds to the
company’s costs since Volkswagen is required to contact customers directly and
make arrangements for necessary repairs to all cars in question.

Notices will
start going out in January 2016, and the recall in Germany is expected to last
longer than six months.

Adding to the company’s financial pain is the
possibility that more cars than originally believed will require more than a
software reconfiguration.

Some diesel cars with 1.6-liter engines, for example,
will require actual hardware modifications in the engine.

By the time
Volkswagen completes the entire global recall, the total price-tag could
soar as high as $40 billion (or 35 million euros).

Thought for the day

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States. By having no constructive response to any of the monumental crises now convulsing America, Trump has abdicated his office. He is not governing. He’s golfing, watching cable TV and tweeting…

In reality, Donald Trump doesn’t run the government of the United States. He doesn’t manage anything. He doesn’t organize anyone. He doesn’t administer or oversee or supervise. He doesn’t read memos. He hates meetings. He has no patience for briefings. His White House is in perpetual chaos.

Robert Reich

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